Once the Yankees came to the realization that getting rid of Raul Mondesi was a case of addition by subtraction, they also realized that right field would be handled by committee. Mondesi has more talent than Juan Rivera, Karim Garcia and David Dellucci, but he couldn’t spell team if you spotted him the first three letters.

So when Yankee manager Joe Torre opted to start Garcia in right last night in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Red Sox and Derek Lowe, it wasn’t a statement that the right-field job has been won. After all, Rivera started Game 1 against Tim Wakefield.

“I wish I could give you a slam-dunk on that,” said Torre, when asked to explain the switch. “I don’t think Juan has had an at-bat against Derek and Karim is 1-for-5 this year with a home run. Derek has maybe given up some more home runs to left-handers than he has to right-handers.”

“Right now it’s splitting hairs,” admitted Torre. “There is not a whole lot of difference. There is just getting [Garcia] a game and seeing if we can catch lightning in a bottle.”

The chances aren’t good the Yankees will hit it that big. Torre had Garcia’s statistics correct for this year but Lowe has owned him. All-time against Lowe, Garcia is 1-for-10 with two strikeouts and the one home run.

Rivera went 0-for-2 against Wakefield. But he is 2-for-6 lifetime against Lowe. As Torre said, he’s looking to get Garcia in a game and see how he responds. With a loss in Game 2, the Yanks face the grim prospect of going to Fenway Park down 0-2 and having to face Pedro Martinez.

“You don’t like it, for sure, you don’t like it,” said Torre. “As I’ve told people in the past, it’s a must game [last night] but if we lose, I’ll find a reason why it wasn’t a must-game.

“You play one game at a night,” continued Torre. “I know that’s old stuff, but . . . if you start looking ahead and worrying about it, all of a sudden you’re getting out of yourself, and we need to concentrate on what we need to do. Hopefully we can score some runs and take the pressure off your starting pitcher.”